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Masse, moti nascosti, etere e spazio nella meccanica hertziana
No full textThis paper is dedicated to the analysis of the connections between the «systems of hidden masses and motions» –that Hertz introduces in his Prinzipien der Mechanik in neuem Zusammenhang dargestellt (1894)–, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)’s theory of vortex-atom and the vortex-aether models propounded by Maxwellians (particularly George F. FitzGerald). On this basis, the implicit adhesion of Hertz to a kinetic research program (similar to Kelvin & Tait’s programme) is discussed. Finally, it is shown how this affiliation as well as Hertz’s reference to the aether were incidental to the elimination of the concept of force and action at a distance. Following a Faraday-Maxwellian pattern, the concept is then replaced by a point-to-point action through the introduction of the ‘systems of hidden masses and motions’. According to Hertz, it is in this framework –revolving around the notions of aether, point-to-point action, and field theory– that the problem of physical space occurs. Together with the physicist’s seminal works, the main source that the paper draws upon and analyses is a very important series of lectures from 1884, lectures which have only recently been published and have thus hardly been taken into consideration by scholarship. The space envisioned by Hertz in this context is a purely relational space. It is not a vacuum that contains or transports forces and matter, rather it is ubiquitously connected with masses and forces. This perspective represents a crucial step towards a new concept of space
Robert Musil, i numeri reali e la matematica
No full textIn a famous passage of his Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless (1906) Robert Musil makes use of concepts like «wirkliche Zahl» and «wirklichen Wert», usually translated (section 1) as «real number» and «real value» respectively (in Italian: «numero reale», «valore reale»). A historical account of the use of «wirklichen Zahl» in German mathematics (section 2) shows that such interpretation is misleading: it would be a sort of a theoretic excursus about the nature of the numbers, what appears to be inconsistent with the history of mathematics on the one hand and the «moral meaning» commonly ascribed to the Törless on the other. On this basis, the role of mathematics in Musil’s works and its meaning as Lebensform particularly in Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften are discussed (sections 3 and 4)
Teorie stravaganti di un redattore invadente: un positivista italiano nel dibattito scientifico europeo
No full textBoscovich, the discovery of Uranus and his inclination to theoretical astronomy
No full textOn March 13th 1781 Frederick William Herschel observed a bizarre celestial body moving in the sky. Retrospectively, that astral body was not at all new at that point. It was observed by a number of astronomers since the end of 17th century (and maybe earlier). But they failed to find out its motion and catalogued it as a fixed star – each time a different one. On the other hand, Herschel realized it was moving, and catalogued it as a comet. That news of a new finding in the sky rapidly spread throughout Europe, and after some months the ‘Herschel’s comet’ was correctly recognized as a new planet, which will be named Uranus. The present paper assumes the event of the discovery of Uranus and the assessment of its planetary nature as a system of complicated, interrelated processes which involved a number of actors in the 17th-century astronomical community. In this framework, the role of the Dalmatian-born jesuit scientist Ruggiero G. Boscovich is emphasized and the meaning of this discovery is discussed as an example of his interest in theoretical research more than in observational science
Edizione nazionale delle opere e della corrispondenza di Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich, 13.2: Les Éclipses : poëme en six chants
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